Mexican footballer

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ayala and the second or maternal family name is Castro.*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21 May 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 September 2018

Hugo Ayala Castro (born 31 March 1987) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga MX club Tigres UANL.

Contents

• 1 Club career
  • 1.1 Atlas
  • 1.2 Tigres UANL
• 2 International career
• 3 Career statistics
• 4 Honours
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Club career

Atlas

Hugo Ayala started his professional career with Atlas. He made his official debut in 2006 as a starter against C.D. Guadalajara. Although Atlas lost 3–1 he became an often used subs*ute ending the season. In the next season he starting showing great talent in defending and became a starter in Atlas's defensive line up, leading Atlas all the way to the quarter finals to face Club América, but lost to them in an aggregate score of (7–4). Throughout his career with Atlas he was mostly used as a subs*ute until the manager, Ricardo La Volpe, took his place as manager of Atlas. La Volpe then started having confidence in Ayala, and made Ayala a starter and captain for Atlas. Then after Tigres saw great interest in Ayala his new club was Tigres

Tigres UANL

On 2010, he arrived to Tigres UANL and by 2011 he already was the starter centre-back along with Juninho, both key players for the Apertura 2011 championship. Ayala was named best defender of the Apertura 2011 season alongside teammate Jorge Torres Nilo. Ayala, a starter in Tigres since 2011, later would become champion with the team in the Apertura 2015, Apertura 2016 and Apertura 2017 seasons besides runner-up of the 2015 Copa Libertadores.

International career

Under José Manuel de la Torre, Miguel Herrera and Juan Carlos Osorio, Ayala has been a regular call-up for Mexico national team.

In May 2018 he was named in Mexico’s preliminary 28-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster revealed on 4 June. He would go on to appear in the opening group stage match against Germany, where Mexico won 1–0 and the round-of-16 loss against Brazil.

Career statistics

As of 12 September 2018Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ayala goal.

Honours

Tigres UANL

• Liga MX: Apertura 2011, Apertura 2015, Apertura 2016, Apertura 2017, Clausura 2019
• Copa MX: Clausura 2014
• Campeón de Campeones: 2016, 2017, 2018
• CONCACAF Champions League: 2020
• Campeones Cup: 2018

Individual

• Mexican Primera División Best Rookie: Clausura 2007
• Mexican Primera División Best Center-back: Apertura 2011
• Liga MX Best Defender: 2017–18
• Liga MX Best XI: Apertura 2015, Apertura 2017, Clausura 2019
• CONCACAF Best XI: 2018
• CONCACAF Champions League Team of the Tournament: 2020

References

External links

• Hugo Ayala – Liga MX stats at MedioTiempo.com (in Spanish)
• Hugo Ayala at National-Football-Teams.com